TRIAL ONE

[mayorityvote]

TRIAL

Once the various investigations have concluded, and the majority of the evidence has been dropped off with Makima and the ducks -- said ducks will scatter to start shepherding any travelers along to JojaMart, for some reason! Those already at JojaMart have a little less walking to do. Meantime, Makima has loaded the evidence onto the daycare wagon -- carefully packaged, because who wants a spill here -- and driven it off after the ducks.

There is, in fact, a back entrance to the JojaMart -- almost like a loading bay, but once it's opened and the wagon has been driven in, you can see that there's a small podium there along with a number of chairs and small tables. It looks like extra pieces used in either the Community Center or other areas around town may be stored here. The ceiling is tall and it's roomy, there's a scant few windows, but the white LED ceiling lighting and rather bare interior is only livened up by some larger spare whiteboards, extra shelving containing tools and knickknacks and a plant or two.

Once everyone is in -- Adela, Makima, a number of assistant ducks and the current inhabitants of the village -- the loading bay door is tugged closed by some enterprising assistants. There's a small door that probably leads into the front of JojaMart, but that's it. One of the ducks sets about serving tea in the slightly gloomy atmosphere.

You're welcome to examine the evidence in the wagon, discuss amongst yourselves, and figure out whodunnit in these first murders.

(( OOC: Welcome to your first trial! You'll have 7 hours (until 8 PM EST/5 PM PST) to vote one (1) person guilty of murder. As this is scapegoat style, a correct vote is not necessary. Please remember to vote unless otherwise discussed with the mods, as that is our AC for this game. ))

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Comments

[theotherww]

That assumes Keito ever left the doggy daycare. I find it more likely he was murdered there and the marks were from that culprit going back and forth from the blacksmith to forge tools and dispose of evidence.

cw gore

[hyperbloom]

Yeah, actually -- Sampo's head was pretty fragmented, after all, so those bits could actually belong to him instead of Keito.

Re: cw gore

[b_reave]

What good would moving fragments into a basket do, if they left the main body in a visible area?

[driftingknight]

... in other words, the entire process of this particular murder likely spanned at least most of the night.

[moonblades]

I don't think that's possible. Nothing was dragged back toward the main road, according to the tracks Zelos found. They're a little damaged, but the scraps from the furnace look like things that could have been carried by hand to me.

[b_reave]

We know Sampo was attacked at the shopping center, and that the pier had both a sword and evidence that someone washed something away with seawater. With the lobster trap also in the building with the sword and the clean up, it makes sense that something messy happened there-- such as dismembering a body.

The marks going to the blacksmith probably also happened, but that sounds like it was done after the body would have been moved over there.

[theotherww]

Then where else do you propose Keito would have been attacked?

[b_reave]

The pier. It would have been an easily washable place, and they then used the lobster trap to move the body pieces to the daycare. Which would explain the drag marks, the minimal blood left at the entrance, and why a sword was hidden at the pier.

Maybe Keito killed Sampo at the market--he was certainly tall enough to have managed carrying him even if he wasn't used to that kind of work-- and Keito's killer was the one who Sampo left a message to meet with at the pier. The last part is circumstantial as of now, but it would make some of the oddities line up.

[theotherww]

You're assuming Keito to be one of our killers then? We haven't determined how long ago he died compared to Sampo yet, you know. How about we check first before you start proposing that kind of thing...

[Which. Walter's gonna do. He's being unnecessarily rude to 2B probably because he's an asshole.]

[b_reave]

I would say the option isn't one people have discussed much, even though it is just as viable as other ideas. You're correct, however, that timing would change how viable it is.

["Before you start proposing that kind of thing" they're all accusing everyone else of being a murderer already, why can't she also accuse the dead guy?]

[theotherww]

[Five seconds later...]

Okay, both bodies have rigor mortis set in. If they died that close together paired with the amount of blood at the pier, there's a possibility that Keito could be responsible.

...but you're lucky I checked before you could make a complete fool of yourself.

[Sure, Walter.]

[b_reave]

["luck". sure. Have a small smirk, no more than an upturned lip]

As we can only vote one murderer, I would expect you to be happier that only one aggressor could potentially be among us.

[She's sure there's more than one murderer here already. They only really need to find the currently active one.]

[theotherww]

That would be ideal, but I wasn't about to get my hopes up without reason.

The only question is what they hoped to accomplish hiding Keito in this theory. Making us assume the missing man is responsible?

[moonblades]

The boat could only hold two people, right? It wouldn't be unreasonable that someone did try to make it look set up to dispose of the evidence in the water... but it doesn't explain everything that wasn't cleaned up.

[illprotecteveryone]

But there was a little bit of blood at the entrance! So something that had some blood had to pass through there, dripping and all.

[...maybe it was a weapon, but also the drag marks are still there, so whatever it was, was both bleeding a little and heavy enough to need to be dragged]

[theotherww]

Someone would have a lot of blood on them after killing or dismembering someone. If we're calling the strength of Keito's killer into question, it's very possible they had to drag along their weapon to dispose of it, especially if it were something heavy like a hammer or pickaxe.